A wee bit about myself

When asked to write a profile of myself I can never think of anything to say about myself. But here goes.

D.O.B
I was born in the middle of the 20th century, so that makes me, what I would term as middle aged. Others might say it makes me old. Just because I am in my second childhood should make no difference. If you would like to see what I look like just click the link below. I have been told it is a good likeness.

See Me

Place of birth
Edinburgh. I was born just off of the Royal Mile (High Street). Until I was about 11 - 12 years old I was raised in East Thomas Street (which at one time was known as "China Town" and has now been demolished) which was located just off of Easter Road and near to the Hib's football ground. I then went to stay in Gilmerton until I was 16 years old.

Education
Primary school(s)
Leith Walk Primary School and then Gilmerton Primary School just prior to going to secondary school.

Secondary school
Gracemount Secondary, (which I left in 1963)

Employment
You name it, I have tried it. (My CV would fill a 10GB hard drive)

Marital Status
Happily divorced (My ex-wife is even happier)

Hobbies
I used to enjoy walking and camping but health issues stop me from doing these now.
Nowadays I enjoy reading (books that don't require my trying to remember the contents) and sitting at this computer (trying to find out what I did that made it stop working correctly) I find computers fascinating and the concept of the Internet even more so. If I was 30 years younger, and had better health, I would try to take formal training in a career in computers. If I can get my hands on one that does not work, I am in my glory. I can spend hours trying to make it work, and trying to figure out what is wrong with it. (My success rate is about minus 2%)

One of the biggest drawbacks I have is that I cannot retain the written word (When I read something I cannot retain this information and need to keep any and all manuals sitting in front of me. Though I usually end up putting these to the side as I have difficulty in deciphering their meanings. I also need to break down a page of text into short paragraphs (similar to the layout here). My best way of learning something is to try - and keep trying - until I succeed. This means that it takes me a lot longer to do things than normal. If you have difficulty in retaining the written word don't let this stop you from trying to do things. Making this web site will have taken me weeks of trying but here you can see the finished result (good or bad). It is a great feeling to view the likes of this and know the work and effort I have put in has been worthwhile.

My Favourite Poem
A White Rose
By Irish American poet John Boyle O'Reilly

A Creed for Living
Desiderata

Humour
Subtle. Some will say it is warped and others will say I have no sense of humour.

My Computer

At the beginning I had quite a few problems with it, but now it runs without any problems (except for me).
My saving grace was in finding the PC Guide forum(s) It was here that I learned the little I know.
Another great help was the magazine that I now get every month PC Answers between the two of them I found all the information and help I needed.

My first home built computer was as follows: (This was my first attempt at building a computer)
Motherboard ---- Gygabyte "GA7IXE4"
Processor ---- AMD Athlone 800MHz
Graphics ---- ATI 32MB "Radeon - VIVO"
Sound Card ---- Trust Sound Expert Digital 4D
(do not let that name full you - I am no sound expert)
CD-RW ---- Ricoh "MP7080A"
DVD ---- Pioneer DVD-ROM DVD 114
512 MB RAM
Windows98se
This computer now sits in the spare room as a standby.

My present computer once again self built is as follows:
Motherboard: Asus A8NE
Processor: AMD Athlone 3000+ (Venice core)
Hard Drives: Sata 200GB (Bootable) & Smaller IDE as storage.
Graphics: 256MB ATI x300 PCI Express
1GB Ram
Sound Card: Built in
CD/DVD Drives: LG DVD-RW and DVD Rom
Floppy Drive: (Hardly used but handy for emergencies)

Pinnical Studio (version 8) Plus card (to compensate for the loss of the VIVO facillity) with 2 firewire ports

This is a wee bit faster than the AMD so for minimum cost I now have a faster computer.

I am a smoker, (but ! I am trying to stop - without much success)

I am a non-drinker. (It brought me out in spots - Manchester / London / The Hebrides and spots like that and created havoc in the lives of those around me) I try to keep life simple by taking it a day at a time.

As I previously said I can never think of anything to write about myself, so I will leave it at that.